The 1999 Artshare series was a conceptual printmaking project designed to question the relationship of value and commodity in a work of art. It consisted of 800 printed Artshares sold through artshare.com for $5 each in an Initial Public Offering in May of 1999. The shares could then be returned during 2004 for double the IPO price. The project thus presented the Shareholder with a decision: whether to view the Artshare -- the actual printed artifact -- as a financial vehicle or an artistic investment, or possibly both.
 
Contact Us with comments or questions about the 1999 Artshare Series.
© MacNeill Art Projects 1998-2005.
Shares may no longer be returned to Artshare.com. After five years the project is now officially completed. A wrap-up story detailing the entire project will be posted on this site within the next two months. Please check back. Thank you for visiting Artshare.
More about Artshare: An integral part of this project is that each shareholder determined the value of the work he owns. If a shareholder had no interest in the project as a conceptual work of art, he could have returned the Artshares for $10 each. Conversely, a shareholder also could choose to frame and display the work purely for its physical and conceptual properties.

Adding complexity to the issue is that the market value of an Artshare could have exceed the $10 return value. In one case, an Artshare was sold on a secondary market for an amount higher than the 2004 return value.

This project was designed to be more accessible and nonexclusive than traditional gallery-based work, which is one of the reasons it is distributed online. A conceptual completion of the project will take place when/if Shares are returned in 2004. If you would like to collect a piece of the Artshare project, there are a limited number available.

The 1999 Artshare Series IPO sold out on May 4, 1999 due in part to an article that appeared in BusinessWeek. More information is available on the original site including Frequently Asked Questions.